Stamkos, the NHL's purest goal scorer and one of its best players, skated for the first time on Thursday since breaking his leg on Nov. 11. That's a month, three days — and, again, one fractured tibia. Here's proof from the Tampa Bay Times:

That video could be part of Bauer's "surveillance video" advertising campaign. All it needed was him taking a shot at the end and shattering a pane of plexiglass, or Brandon Bollig belly-flopping off to the side.

The fact that he's here, already, is great news. It's important news. it's also jarring to see, maybe because of how horrible it was to see him writhing on the ice, telling the Tampa Bay Lightning's medical staff, "it's broken." Afterward, it was easy, and logical, to worry about Stamkos' future, and certainly his Olympics trip.

Now that seems a little misplaced, which is more than OK.

And as for that Olympics roster, by the way — Canada is waiting until Jan. 7 to make their announcement. They can put Stamkos' name on it, then decide closer to Feb. 11 whether he's ready. Would it surprise anyone if he were?

"Anything you can use as motivation you try to use it, especially an event like that," Stamkos told NHL.com of the Olympics earlier this week. "That's something you dream of as a kid, participating in that. I don't think it changes drastically, though. I want to get back as soon as I can where I know I'm 100 percent healthy and I'm not going to be a liability to the team. I want to get back to help the Tampa Bay Lightning win games."